THE FARMER AT HOME. 283 



?ides, pounded in pails, and the water changed three times ; then 

 wrung and stretched on the leg, and passed after each other into water, 

 with alum dissolved in it. Thus alumed. they are left to drain till 

 the morning, then wrung out, pulled on the leg, and folded from head 

 to tail, the flesh inward. In this state they receive their first dye, by 

 passing them from one to anothei in a red liquor, prepared with lacca, 

 and some other ingredients. 



MOSS. A parasitic plant, something like down, and adheres to 

 the trunks of trees, and was formerly supposed to be merely an ex- 

 crescence, but is now found to be a perfect plant, having roots, flower, 

 and seeds, yet cannot be propagated by seed. It is oftentimes very 

 injurious to fruit trees, and ought to be scraped off in the spring 

 season and in moist weather. 



MOTH. The clothes-moth itself is perfectly innocuous. The 

 devastation is committed by the caterpillar. This begins to form a 

 nest as soon as it quits the egg. For this purpose, having spun a thin 

 coating of silk around its body, it cuts filaments of wool or fur close to 

 the thread of the cloth, and applies the pieces to the outside of its 

 case. This covering it never leaves, except in cases of urgent neces- 

 sity. When it wishes to feed, it puts out its head at either end of the 

 case, as may be most convenient. When it wishes to change its 

 position, it protrudes its head and about half its body, and thus moves 

 forward, dragging its case by fixing its hinder legs firmly in it. 

 When, from its increase in size, the case becomes too small, it makes 

 an addition to it at each end. This operation can be readily traced 

 by transferring it from cloth of one color to another, when each addi- 

 tion will be conspicuous, from the difference of color. After changing 

 into a chrysalis, it remains quiescent for about three weeks, when a 

 small nocturnal moth, of a silvery-gray color, comes forth, but too well 

 known to almost every mistress of a family. 



The usual mode of destroying these pests is by oil of turpentine, 

 camphor or tobacco, all of which will answer the purpose to a certain 

 degree ; but all have the disadvantage of communicating odors to the 

 clothes, to which they have been applied, extremely disagreeable to 

 many persons. As moths never attack unwashed wool, and even 

 abandon the places where it is kept, this substance may be advan- 

 tageously substituted for the above mentioned articles, by placing it 

 in layers between clothes, or keeping small parcels in the corners of 

 shelves or drawers. For this plan to be effectual, the wool must be 

 used as it comes from the back of the animal, before any cleansing 

 process has been employed that will deprive it of its natural oil or 

 smell. 



MOTT'S AGRICULTURAL FURNACE . This is undoubtedly 

 the best apparatus for cooking vegetables and other food for stock that 

 has been devised. The largest size holds 120 gallons, and the 

 gmallest only fifteen gallons, and there are seven intermediate sizes, 



